Buoyant HSBC silent over chief Geoghegan's bonus

Britain's biggest bank, HSBC, will tomorrow announce bumper profits for 2009, but the strong performance under chief executive Mike Geoghegan is set to be overshadowed by the simmering row over bonuses.

Forecasts for underlying profits range between £8 billion and £11.5 billion, but attention is likely to focus more on whether Geoghegan will follow the example set by the bosses of Barclays, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland and waive his bonus, which could be worth as much as £4.3 million.

Geoghegan told the board of his decision on Friday, but the bank said it would make no comment until the results.

Decision: Speculation surrounds HSBC chief Geoghegan's bonus

Analysts at Barclays last week described HSBC as 'a clear winner from the global credit crisis'. Since HSBC has taken no Government bailout it may say that Geoghegan is entitled to his payout, but public pressure means some concession is likely.

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One option Geoghegan is thought to have considered is taking his entire bonus in shares deferred for at least a year.

HSBC chairman Stephen Green waived his entitlements to any future bonuses two years ago. A major drain on HSBC has been its US operations, where its sub-prime business is expected to report bad debts of £9 billion, down slightly on last year.